CRMWD to invest $142M in water lines

Published 2:15 pm, Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Colorado River Municipal Water District is moving ahead with a $142 million project that would transmit groundwater to area cities in the event each of its lakes run dry.

Though not a cost Executive Director John Grant said they wanted to take on right now, with two bodies of water on track to be empty this year and the third reservoir projected to dry up by the close of 2012, there aren't many other options.

"I don't think anybody wants to build it, but we have to move forward," Grant said. "This is a really, really bad drought. We're having to convert over to groundwater to meet needs."

E.V. Spence Reservoir was at 1.3 percent full late last week and likely will be empty within a few weeks, Grant said. Lake J.B. Thomas, which provides resources to Snyder, is set to dry up in December. O.H. Ivie Reservoir, the source from which Midland's water is supplied, was at 26.6 percent full.

Without additional rain, it's projected Ivie could be empty by the close of 2012, leaving no surface water sources for the CRMWD to draw from.

"Our projections are today that we would run out, we would think, sometime in December of 2012 (or) January of 2013," Grant said.

Well fields

The project that's in the works would create transmission lines with the capacity to bring in up to 45 million gallons of water per day from the district's well fields in Ward County. That amount would be enough only to cover each city's indoor water needs, Grant said, but would cover the cities should the groundwater dry up.

The district has owned a well field on University Lands in the county since 1970 and last year acquired a second field from power company Luminant. Even with the increased resources, the district only has pipelines with the ability to transmit 16 million gallons of water per day between the two fields -- far below what they're capable of providing.

Because the lake and reservoirs will evaporate if not used, Grant said those resources always are sold first. Water from the wells is used when needed to supplement the higher demand typically seen during summer months.

"Our whole system over 60-plus years was built around surface water. ... We only use the groundwater when we absolutely have to," Grant said. "If it does rain, when we can go back to using surface water, we will."

The district's board approved last week the design and pipeline easement acquisition for the infrastructure needed to transmit water from the well fields. It likely will consider issuing bonds in the coming weeks so construction can start by fall and be complete by 2013, said board member Charles Perry.

Having been on the board since 1978, Perry said this is the most dire conditions the board has dealt with. The $140 million-plus investment has become a necessity, he said.

"It just hasn't happened before," he said of the need for more groundwater. "We've always had enough rain, and, we still might."

Cost to consumers

The district board estimates the infrastructure bonds, which would be taken out over about 25 years, will add about $11 a month to every resident and business owner with a water meter in the district, Perry said.

The exact amount each municipality would raise fees depends upon the city, Grant said, because the increased cost would be charged to the cities when they purchase water.

Stuart Purvis, director of utilities for the city of Midland, said he doesn't know what type of increase residents could face.

He said, in addition to providing more expensive water, the city also will sell less water if restrictions are in place. With fewer gallons of water to spread the price of infrastructure bonds over, the overall cost for consumers could go up even more.

"It's going to make an impact to everybody's rates. Until they come and tell us how much water is gong to cost, we don't know," Purvis said. "That could well be a big impact to the rates next year, especially if we sell less water."

He said the city won't increase rates at this point, but it will assess the situation in the fall and could make changes by winter.

Irrigation

Without rain, Grant said outdoor watering could be off the table for next summer.

In permitting irrigation this summer, he said officials are at the point where any glitch in the system -- whether it be a broken pump or pipe -- would send cities into an emergency state where water would only be allowed indoors and could even be limited in usage there.

"That's how close we're living," he said. "I don't want to say we're living on the edge, but that's how tight it is this summer."

The additional 10 percent reduction for cities the board agreed on last week should provide some leeway, board member Mickey Jones said, adding resources still are scarce.

"We never really rationed water. We used to be very proud of that until recently," Jones said. "We're all in kind of the same boat. We're going to have to cut down. ... We have the water to drink. We're just going to have to cut down on watering yards."

Purvis said he doesn't see Midland banning irrigation this year, but agreed with Grant that a continued drought would make it a possibility next year.

"You can reach a time when there just is no more," he said. "Pray for rain and maybe next year we won't have to deal with this."

For now, he said he's telling Midlanders not to plant new landscaping and to follow the restrictions.

Grant said he's hopeful those type of restrictions will become the new norm.

"This area is on the edge of the desert," he said. "Most of the water is used during the summer outside. You at least ought to plant a landscape that works for this (region)."

Long-term

In its long-range planning, Grant said the district foresees implementing reclamation facilities.

One already is in the works in Big Spring and should be online next year to provide about 2 million gallons per day, or about one-third of what the city uses on average. The water will be captured after it's been used, cleaned and then blended back into Big Spring's resources, he said.

If a similar operation could be constructed between Midland and Odessa, he said it probably could produce 9 million to 10 million gallons per day of reclaimed water. With technology continuing to advance, Grant said the water can be cleaned to appropriate standards and blended in to other supplies to provide a drought-resistant source.

"It's consistent," he said. "It's day in and day out."

The board also is considering operations that would de-mineralize, or remove the salt, from brackish water. Though not cheap, Grant said it would provide resources.

"When we're doing water supply projections, you want to look out at least 50 years," he said. "When you live at the edge of a desert, you have to."